Want to do some volunteering?

I've just returned home after spending a few great weeks in Buenos Aires where I also spent some time at the club. If you're thinking of doing a spot of volunteering, I can recommend a visit. Here we are messing about with paint and attempting to make bracelets out of pasta.
It doesn't matter what your age or background is or how long you plan to stay in town, you're sure to be able to contribute something. There's always some activity going on, but new ideas are always appreciated. The folks there will make you very welcome - even if your Spanish is as bad as mine was!

NUESTRO PIBES CELEBRAN HALLOWEEN...!!! YEAAAAAAAA

Quiz Night!

 

We are holding the first ever Quiz Night on Sunday 15th November in aid of the Union!

For those of you not familiar with a Pub Quiz / Quiz Night it works like this:

- You arrive wth your friends and form teams of up to six people - each team has their own table.

- Each person in the team pays 20 pesos - this money goes straight to the Union!
- There are 4 rounds of 10 questions - mainly general knowledge, but some music and picture questions
- The questions are read out, and your team writes your answers down
- At the end of each round, you hand your paper in, it is marked and the scores so far are announced
- The team with the most points at the end of the 4 rounds is the winner!
 

So, please come and bring as many of your friends as possible!! Quizzes are a lot of fun, there is no pressure and it doesn't matter how well or how badly you do - the main thing is to eat and drink lots to support the bar (who are letting us hold the quiz there for free) and show your support for Union de los Pibes!!!

NUESTRO PIBITOS DEL CLUB

 

"VERDADERAS OBRAS DE ARTE"

 

HECHAS SÓLO CON EL AMOR DE NUESTROS PIBITOS"

¡CLUB UNION DE LOS PIBES... TAMBIEN PARA LOS GRANDES...!

Sin palabras.... solo agradecimiento para todos los voluntarios que han pasado y pasan por el Club Unión de los Pibes sólo para ayudar desinteresadamente y con todo su corazon a los grandes y chicos de las comunidades de La Boca y Barracas. y como digo siempre... ¡VALE LA PENA LUCHAR...!!!

"LOS TIEMPOS CAMBIAN"

Los tiempos cambian y las personas tambien, pero lo que nunca debe cambiar es el amor al prójimo y sobre todo el espíritu de solidaridad y amor hacia los niños... ¡ELLOS NOS NECESITAN... VALE LA PENA LUCHAR! ¿Cierto?

Faces of El Club Unión de los Pibes

I wanted to capture a few photos of the kids at the club and I brought along my camera one day. The kids loved seeing themselves on my little camera screen after snapping some photos. Here are a couple pictures of the kids playing and interacting with the volunteers. Enjoy!

The kids are so much fun to interact with and they seem to really enjoy being at the center!

Links to ESL free-content websites

Hola Todos,

Busque algunas paginas de web donde puede obtener materiales e informacion sobre ensenar ingles.

http://www.teaching-esl-to-adults.com/index.html (excelente por informacion gramatica y recomendaciones para maestros)

http://www.usingenglish.com/teachers/lesson-plans (hay 154 plans de lecturas entre nivels empezando y avanzado, todo gratis y descargable)

Tambien, teaching-esl-to-adults.com tiene links a otros paginas de web donde puede buscar mas informacion y materiales gratis.

Saludos,

Neil

Going Places!

I've now been volunteering with Rossi and the Union for the last 6 weeks or so and in that time things have changed a fair bit! I found about the Club in a post on the Couchsurfing Volunteer forum, and looking at the blog saw that they were having an event in a bar the next evening, a chance to meet the people involved and find out more about how you could help.

So along I went and spent a fascinating couple of hours getting to know Rossi, hearing some of her many stories and came away determined to help, in a small way for sure, but help nonetheless.

My first day and I was the only volunteer, and I didn't really know what to do at first and I just stood around a little bemused, but after a gentle suggestion from Rossi that I go and play football with the boys as a way for them to get to know me, the 3 hours flew past and I started to feel more at ease.

Fast-forward 6 weeks and the club is no longer the same place I saw on that first day - thanks to the help I could offer with the email, we now have plenty of volunteers every day and the numbers of kids has increased, with activities and classes happening the whole time - the place is buzzing with energy for 3 hours!

And it's going to carry on - with the new volunteers come new ideas: art classes, music classes, starting a seed garden, trips to a biscuit factory, a pub quiz to raise funds.

Union de los Pibes has arrived - come and join the fun!

Jonathan Evans

Fiesta de la Primavera

A great time was had by all! Lots of kids turned up, some of them for the first time, it was wonderful to meet them! We played, made crowns, had cake and generally enjoyed the sun shining for the first time in many months.

  

We have a new name!!

Club Acorn Argentina is now known as El Club Unión de los Pibes (The Kids' Union)!!

Rossi has been thinking of changing the name for a while as she no longer has a direct link to the Acorn Organisation in the US, so we asked the kids (who else!) and this is what they came up with!

That aside, nothing else changes - it's still the same great place, keeping busy and giving the community a safe, fun place to learn and play!

Thank you for your continued support!

Festejamos la Primavera

Spring has sprung, and we will be celebrating the best way possible, with a party for the kids - we will have a whole lot fun and there will be plenty of surprises for all! Come along - everybody is welcome!

Support the Children of La Boca

We are holding an event to raise money for the children of La Boca on September 8th at 21.00. It will take place on Venezuela 474 in San Telmo. Below you can see the poster for the event.

Dear Acorn supporters
Our fundraising Event has been put forward to Tuesday 9th June and will be held at Krakow Cafe-Bar, Venezuela 474 at 9.00pm. There will be an entrance fee of 20 pesos which includes a drink at the bar, well worth the fee in what should be an entertaining night to help us through difficult times.

If you or anybody else is in the city, please please come along and show your support! We are again teaming up with the Buenos Aires Pub Crawl at the end of the month, where the night will end at the exclusive KIKA nightspot.

In other news of Club Acorn, we are proud and extremely excited to announce our new link with the Boca Juniors Foundation. Three of our boys have already been to the programme, where they are given access to the world famous stadium, use the huge library and have dedicated professionals that provide school support and psychologists.

Its vital to us to build and maintain links within the community of La Boca and there is no link more prestigious in Boca, than Boca Juniors!

The project runs on Thursday mornings, to provide support for children not in school or those that attend in the afternoons and they are encouraged to work to get them back into education.

The excitetment was tangible when I walked the boys back from two hours spent in La Bombonera. We saw a few first team players and they were promised they would meet their idols in person if they stuck to the programme and made the effort to improve their reading skills.

With the Boca Juniors project and Club Acorn, we have a real hope now for these kids and we are all so proud and excited for them that they might get to meet their heroes! (not without putting the work in first!)
Aguante Club Acorn
John Reece

The last time I wrote, we were preparing for 'Alta Joda' to raise money for our centre and be able to give the children a positive experience, outside of La Boca. Thanks to a successful event (Many thanks to the Buenos Aires Pub Crawl, The Buenos Aires Herald, Whats up Buenos Aires and everyone that turned up) We were able to take 21 or our children to the Zoo!

The children AND volunteers had a great day and it was a reward to the kids for the hard work they had put in, the month before in the classes the volunteers so brilliantly deliver. From Maths, Cooking to Yoga!

You can see pictures of our trip on our facebook page this week!

We are currently working hard to make Alta Joda 2 happen. However, money raised will go on keeping Club Acorn going through some very difficult times. We are planning this event on the 20th May in San Telmo (conformation coming soon!) so if your in the city or know anybody that is, please spread the word for what is a vitally important event to keep Club Acorn de Ninos strong.

Vamos por lo bueno
John

The children of the centre are currently enjoying their summer holidays and as we approach the new school year, Club Acorn is preparing for a fundraising event to give the children the educational materials they deserve.

For the third time, we are teaming up with the Buenos Aires Pub Crawl on the 27th February. If you are in the city, please come along and support us and bring your friends. We will be meeting at Plaza Armenia at 22.00 before moving on to three bars and a nightclub in Palermo. The night is called Alta Joda a slang term for good times, although at the same time we hope to spread the word of our project and get more supporters on board.

The money raised on the evening will go towards new books, paints, food and hopefully if we have the required numbers - day trips out for the children. Many of us will have fond memories of school trips to the zoo, theatre and museums. It will incredibly satisfying for us all at Club Acorn if the children of La Boca are able to benefit from the same experiences. With fundraisers like this, its definitely possible.

For more information on the evening, we have the flyer on our facebook page, CLUB ACORN INTERNATIONAL.

Wish us luck..for an alta noche.
Saludos
John Reece